Poker on Screen

February 25 saw the first programme in the new Channel 4 series Late Night Poker. The highly successful format of this tournament, as you may recall, turns on the novel idea of showing the players' hole cards to the viewers, via cameras installed under a glass table. Even people quite new to poker can thus follow and understand the play.

Each player put up £1,500 to enter. (One day, perhaps, there will be sponsorship of poker, as with golf or tennis, which will offer players a fee to compete.) The winners of the heats, effectively one table satellites screened on successive Fridays nights, will go through to a final, to be shown on April 21. The winner scoops a first prize of £40,000, plus entry to the World Championship in Las Vegas in May.

The first episode struck me as better handled than last time. Commentator Jesse May has picked up a bit of speed in his narration. The end of this first episode had a surprising twist. I won't reveal the final winner.

Another important development in international poker is the proposed American-European tournament, modelled on the golf Ryder Cup. This event is being organised by the energetic Vegas pro Mike Sexton, who devised the recent Tournament of Champions in Vegas. An American team captained by two-time world champion Doyle Brunson, will play a European team, led by the Dublin all-rounder Donnacha O'Dea.

The teams will consist of ten players, chosen by the captains after a series of trials in heads-up play, plus a celebrity player. For the European side the celebrity could be Patrick Bruel, the French pop singer and movie star, a strong player, said to be almost as popular in France as Elvis. The American star might be Michael Jordan or Matt Damon (who plays a neat game as I discovered when sitting next to him in Las Vegas.) The venue for the match is planned to be Casinos Austria in Bregenz, on Lake Constance, at the end of the summer. In 2001 it will be in Vegas.

Again, TV is the key. If the event catches on, it will attract huge publicity for poker. Why do we need publicity? Because the more people who play, the more action there will be and the more value for everyone.